1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to seeding devices that can be attached to tillage implements and which utilize air conveying for distribution of the seed to furrow openers.
2. Prior Art
In the prior art various seeding devices which mount onto tillage implements have been advanced. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,199,755 issued May 7, 1940 to W. R. Pyron shows a seeder attachment for disc harrows, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,387 illustrates the use of seed tubes relative to shovel type furrow openers.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,812,732 shows a central hopper and a single impeller fan for distributing seed to individual seed tubes mounted behind each shovel on the cultivator.
Pneumatic seed conveying also has been known. There are a large number of corn planter type devices which lift individual seeds through a vacuum arrangement, and British Pat. No. 871,261 shows a type of pneumatic spreader for inorganic fertilizer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,825 shows an all pneumatic seed conveying and distributing system with central metering and division of the seeds into individual streams.
U.S. Pat. No. 383,224 shows a central hopper arrangement in a drill plow using gravity type feed without pneumatic conveying. Another type of seeding machine using an auger lateral conveyer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 534,750.
In modern day farming tillage implements such as field cultivators are commonly 30 feet wide and more, and generally include a center main section and folding wings or outer sections that fold up for transport. It is desirable from a cost standpoint to adapt such devices (which may be substantially wider than 30 feet) for seeding. One of the problems in such adaptation is to get accurate metering and uniform distribution of the seed to each of the individual furrow openers or shovels that are mounted on the cultivator, and at the same time have the seeding units adaptable for easy mounting onto and removal from such implement to permit multiple use including its primary purpose of tilling or cultivating.